Firm that makes equipment to help paralyzed people walk is opening Marlboro HQ

BOSTON 
A small company creating equipment that helps people with paralysis walk will establish a U.S. headquarters in Marlboro.

ARGO Medical Technologies Ltd., founded in Israel in 2001, will open in 3,600 square feet of leased space at 33 Locke Drive as it ramps up for Food and Drug Administration review of its ReWalk, an exoskeleton that users wear to help them stand, walk and ascend or descend stairs.

ARGO announced the decision today alongside Gov. Deval Patrick at AdvaMed 2012, the annual conference and expo of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a trade group. The conference is being held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and continues through tomorrow.

ARGO's Marlboro office will initially employ about five to six people, but it could grow to 40 people as the business wins Food and Drug Administration approval of ReWalk and launches U.S. sales, according to Chief Executive Larry J. Jasinski. The company began sales of ReWalk in Europe within the last month.

ReWalk is a computer-controlled exoskeleton for people with lower-limb disabilities. The user straps devices on his or her legs and wears a backpack containing a battery. By punching buttons on a wrist-worn device, the user can tell the components to stand, move forward or take stairs.

Theresa A. Hannigan, an Army veteran who was disabled by treatments for an autoimmune disorder, demonstrated the ReWalk to a crowd of onlookers today at the AdvaMed gathering. Ms. Hannigan lives on Long Island, N.Y., and generally uses ReWalk three times a week at a Veterans Administration hospital in the Bronx, N.Y.

"For all those doctors out there who told me I would never walk again, guess what?" she said. "I am walking."

ARGO has a sales office in Germany and will retain research, development and production in Israel, Mr. Jasinski said. The Marlboro office will handle service, administration and clinical studies.

In Europe, the ReWalk system sells for about 50,000 euros, or about $64,000. It's not yet clear what the device would sell for in the United States or how users would pay for it. Mr. Jasinski said, however, a significant market exists for the product.

"Even if we have a very small penetration rate, we can have a very successful business," he said.